Shopper’s joy turns to horror: Finnish woman abused, attacked in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: A Finnish woman, who is a social activist, and her husband were assaulted by a customer at Foodworld Supermarket near Gottigere on Bannerghatta Road on Tuesday night. To their horror, none of the supermarket staff, nor other customers at the shop came to the help of the couple, who were trying to stop the assaulter from jumping the queue at the billing counter. The entire incident has been caught on CCTV camera fitted inside the store.

Dr Prakash R. Kota (48) and his wife Kirsi Merri Johnna Kota, who were coming back from a lunch, decided to buy food for their pet dogs. Dr Kota, a resident of BTM Layout, told Deccan Chronicle, “We went to the store around 6.30 pm. As we were standing in the queue to bill the items, a 5’7 inch man, who was well dressed, came and stood between me and my wife. I told him politely to go to the back of the line and wait for his turn, but to our horror, he turned towards my wife and started abusing her. When she stood up for herself, he caught hold of my wife’s hand, twisted it and pushed her aside, leaving her with abrasions.”

As Dr Kota sternly told the assaulter to back off, Mrs Kota ran to the store manager requesting for help. But no one, not even other customers who were at the shop, came to their rescue. Realising that they would not get any help, the couple moved out of the shop and got into their car.

As Dr Kota was starting the car, the assaulter charged towards them, hurling abuses. “He opened the car door on the passenger side, where my wife was sitting, reached in, dragged my wife out and assaulted her. I got out to save her, but the assaulter picked up two big stones and threatened to crush my head with them. He threw the two stones at my head, but I escaped. He disappeared as fast he came. “We immediately went to the Hulimavu police station and filed a complaint,” he said. The police booked a case under Section 354 of IPC and took the couple to the Foodworld store.

Gottigere Foodworld manager Praveen told this newspaper, “Everything happened in split second. The store was crowded as it was peak time, and I was hesitant to intervene, as trying to stop the assaulter would have meant manhandling him. Two months ago, when a similar incident occurred, I approached the police and gave a statement against the customer who was at fault. The assaulter later returned to the store, threatened me and accused me of manhandling him. Some elements in Gottigere are dangerous. I and other staff were scared to intervene in Tuesday’s incident. After the couple left, I and a staff member from lost and prevention department approached the assaulter and told him that he has to give his telephone number in case of an inquiry later, and he gave us his phone number.”

But the store manager refused to give the telephone number to Deccan Chornicle.